This invention relates to snow plow blades which can be mounted on powered vehicles for use during the Winter season and then removed for storage during the Spring, Summer and Fall, while the vehicle is used for other purposes. Typically, trucks such as garbage trucks and other multipurpose vehicles are used by many municipalities as dual functioning vehicles. At certain times of the year the trucks can be used to haul refuse, sand, gravel and the like, while at other times of the year, the trucks can be used to push snow plows to clear county and local highways and roads. The plows which are attached to these vehicles take a tremendous amount of abuse because the plows are used to clear vast amounts of snow and ice over rural roads and highways which may be in less than perfect repair. This results in the plows hitting ruts, boulders and other objects at speeds up to 20 or 25 miles per hour causing enormous forces and stresses to be generated and transmitted through the apparatus connecting the plow to the vehicle.
Heretofore, snow plows have been connected to support wheels therefor by means of square tubing connected to a pivot pin. The pivot pin stands upwardly from a frame which in the prior art has been mounted above the hub of the wheel in such a way that the forces generated when the snow plow hits the ground tends to tear the square tubing out of the rear of the snow plow and to bend the pivot connection between the snow plow and wheels used to transport the plow.
Because of the tremendous forces generated during snow plow operations, particularly when ramming the snow plow into large snow drifts, the connections between the snow plow and the frames having the wheels attached thereto tend to rip and twist requiring constant repair and replacement after relatively little use.
The present invention obviates the problems heretofore encountered by directing forces through a frame member which is substantially parallel to the wheel hub and may be axially co-planar with the hub. In any event, the wheel assembly which includes a mounting frame for the wheel is pivotally mounted to the rear of the plow in such a way that the forces generated when the plow hits either the ground or an obstruction while travelling at a high rate of speed or impacts into a snow drift or other object, is transmitted rearwardly through the frame to wheels and does not cause the twisting or other torque heretofore encountered which previously resulted in tearing and twisting of the frame mounting members particularly at the connections to the rear of the snow plow and to the pivot pin of the wheel assembly.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a snow plow having an adjustable wheel comprising a curved blade portion having a bottom scraping edge and a mounting plate extending rearwardly from the rear surface of the plow, a wheel connected to the rear of the snow plow by a frame member, the frame member having horizontal strut means mounted at one end to the axle of the wheel and at the other end to the mounting plate extending from the rear of the plow, and means for vertically adjusting the plow with respect to the wheel axle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a snow plow having a curved blade with a bottom scraping edge an rearwardly extending horizontally positioned mounting means, two wheels each having a hub, a frame member for each wheel including an outer cylindrical member having the bottom thereof connected to the associated wheel hub by a horizontally disposed strut and having the top thereof connected to the horizontally disposed strut by an angularly disposed strut, an inner cylindrical member fixedly mounted to the mounting means for each wheel, the inner cylindrical members being spaced apart along the longitudinal dimension of the snow plow blade each adapted to fit inside of an associated one of the outer cylindrical members to mount the two wheels to the snow plow blade, and means providing vertical adjustment of the curved blade and the bottom scraping edge with respect to the wheel hub and the ground upon which the wheel rests.
The invention consists of certain novel features and a combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the details may be made without departing from the spirit, or sacrificing any of the advantages of the present invention.